k11. Social and Cultural Change

sex disqualification act

1919

women could no longer be barred from a career in the civil service

matrimonial causes act

1923

made it easier for women to get a divorce

guardianship of infants act

1924

gave the guardianship of infant children to both parents equally

new english law of property

1926

granted married and single women the same property rights as men

representation of the people's act

1928

all women over 21 given the vote

flappers

young women of the 1920s

worry that they were unsuitable for serious issues such as voting

how many were in domestic service by 1931

1.6 million

by the end of the 1920s, women's wages...

remained less than half men's wages in most industries

the government and women's magazines encouraged women to...

stay at home and have babies

how many in paid employment by the end of the 1920s

70% of single women

10% of married women

34% in total (same as 1911!)

women as parliamentary candidates

1922 -\> 33

1929 -\> 69

number of female mps

1923 - 8

1924 - 4

1931 - 15

always under 5% of the total

first female cabinet minister

1929

margaret bondfield

elected female local councillors

1930, 15%

womens institute

a place where women could meet in rural areas, and organise charitable events

elaborate dress of edwardian era disappeared

hems rose

waistlines dropped

corsets disappeared

average family size

fell from more than 4 to 3.5

morality crusade

changes in women's fashion caused serious concern for older, more conservative members of society

marriage bar

women had to give up certain jobs after they got married

particularly nurses, teachers, doctors, cleaners, civil servants

what percentage of female civil servants were expelled each year due to marriage

4%

newspaper readership

1920 - only 2 newspapers with at least 1mil circulation

1930 - 5 of this size

women's magazines

vogue

cheaper women's weekly

coloured comics

by the 1930s

e.g. the beano

saturday matinee at cinema cost

only around 2 pence

1925 % of films british made

only 5%

cinematograph act

1927

quota of 7.5% films had to be british made

BBC

british broadcasting company 1922

british broadcasting corporation 1926

to "inform, educate and entertain people"

more varied broadcasts on the BBC

1930s

comedy

more varied music

previously very serious

number of radios

1922: 36000

1926: 2mil

late 1930s: over 8mil

cultural response to war

art

literature

art movement

dada

protest against bourgeois, nationalist and colonialist ideas

literature

war veterans e.g. charles montague challenged pre-war assumptions in their work

virginia woolf, a room of one's own

first world war should be

"war to end all wars"

widespread support for disarmament from the league of nations

remembrance poppy

1922

adopted as official symbol of remembrance by the royal british legion